I am an unaffiliated voter and have been all my life. I watched recaps of the Watergate trials on late night TV my freshman year of college, knowing my Christian elders had voted for Richard Nixon.
I watched Mayor Frank Rizzo's blind eye toward abuse of black Philadelphians during my years of grad school in Philly, knowing most white folks in churches around me supported him because he said he'd keep them safe.
When my husband Whitney worked with Prison Fellowship, founded by Chuck Colson, Nixon's hatchet man, we spent time with people from both parties who had served time for illegal partisan political actions.
While I know there are often good reasons for choosing one party over another, I've also seen the harm of blind loyalty, and the danger of throwing support too fervently in one direction.
George Washington apparently felt something similar. His 1796 Farewell Address explained why he chose not to seek a third term, then warned against "the dangers of parties" and "geographical discriminations." He said:
Let me . . . warn you in the most solemn manner against the baneful effects of the spirt of party. . . . The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension. . . is itself a frightful depotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries, which result, gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction . . . turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of Public Liberty.I lead a non-partisan grassroots organization working to change Pennsylvania's redistricting process. I've seen how the "spirit of party" Washington warned against can lead to bending the rules to keep one's own party in power. Even when it undermines democracy. Even when it damages confidence in government, wrecks public policy, and yields that ugly spirit of revenge between legislative colleagues.
Our all-volunteer Fair Districts PA team is composed of Rs, Ds, and some, like me, unaffiliated voters. Some are registered with a party solely so they can vote in PA's closed primaries. Some have shifted parties over the years due to changing party platforms or their own changing priorities. ALL are tired of the way our political structures encourage partisan games instead of common sense solutions.
Our nation needs deep foundational change. But we also need moral courage and a willingness to set party aside and stand up for what we know is right.
In the past few months I've watched people I once admired contradict themselves rather than acknowledge or counter their party leader's endless lies.
I've watched people who claim to love their neighbors stand silent as neighbors born in other countries are deported without due process or legal rationale.
I've heard people who give generously to Christian aide agencies repeat lies about fraud in those same agencies.
I've seen legislators who once worked in national defense pretend dangerous security breaches are not worth noting.
My participation wasn't a statement of support for Democrats.
It wasn't a repudiation of Republicans.
My goal was to stand on behalf of my neighbors:
- Immigrants targeted unjustly.
- Disabled children whose protections will vanish as the Department of Education is unraveled.
- All those hungry, sick, impoverished people impacted by the loss of USAID.
- Health researchers whose projects have been cut abruptly, leaving sick people in confusion and undermining years of work.
- Thousands and thousands of government workers suddenly fired without notice, explanation, or plan to carry on important work they've been doing.
I did go and stand with others to say "Hands off our democracy, our neighbors, the protections enacted by Congress over decades of debate."
At the protest I met people from my church.
Conservatives I've known for years.
A parent who sent her children to the local Christian private school.
People I know - for sure - voted Republican in every election until they voted against Donald Trump.
For many, it was the first protest event they've ever attended.
We are all wrestling with the question: what does it mean to love my neighbor?
In my church, we pray weekly:
Most merciful God,
we confess that we have sinned against you
in thought, word, and deed,
by what we have done,
and by what we have left undone.
We have not loved you with our whole heart;
we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves.
We are truly sorry and we humbly repent.
For the sake of your Son Jesus Christ,
have mercy on us and forgive us;
that we may delight in your will,
and walk in your ways,
to the glory of your Name.
Amen.
I will never fully do what I should do. There will always be work left undone.
I will never love God as fully as I should, and will never fully love my neighbor as myself.
But today I took a step to do that, against a frightful depotism that is already costing lives, sowing chaos, harming communities, and dragging us ever closer to the ruins of public liberty.
I found myself surrounded by people doing the same: trying their best to love their neighbor. I was thankful to be there. Thankful for the hundreds of thousands, at over 1200 events nationwide, who showed up to say "Hands off my neighbor."
My goal, in politics as in every aspect part of my life, is to walk in God's ways, for His glory and our good.
Attending that rally was part of that.
I'll be watching for the next occasion.
- ABC: Huge crowds gather in Hands Off rallies nationwide
- NPR: Nationwide protest rallies erupt against Trump and Musk
- NPR: Photos/ See demonstrators around the country rally
Just a few notes in response to critiques I've seen of the hundreds of Hands Off rallies:
Despite right-wing accusations, there's no evidence anywhere that participants were paid to attend. There were no massed produced signs, no central distribution of any kind. If there were buses, they were paid for by the folks who attended, or in some cases, by continuing care communities whose residents wanted transportation. My 80 something uncle from Washington State was part of a community that sent several buses to the Olympia. Some, like my uncle, went with walkers. None were paid protestors.
In all reporting I've seen so far, there was no hint of violence except for one incident where someone offended by protestors brought an automatic gun to threaten them. He was arrested, then released.
Despite some headlines highlighting "angry protestors," my experience of the event I attended was that attendees were thoughtful, friendly, determined, ready to do what they can to make sure our democracy works for us all. I saw nothing I'd call hateful, little that looked angry.
Observors noted that the overall demographic seemed to skew older and white. I saw a handful of young attendees, including some college students I know, and a few children and teens. That seems at least in part reflective of the current political climate. When black and brown people are being arrested without warrants or probably cause, when immigrants who have lived here for decades are deported without due process, when college students fear expulsion for speaking out against the administration, public protests no longer feel safe for many.
Even so, it seem likely that the April 5 Hands Off protest will be remembered as the largest multi-site simultaneous protest event in history, at over 1200 sites with over 400,000 registered, and many more unregistered attendees. For most who attended, the event was just the start of citizen efforts to protect democracy and neighbors threatened by unjust actions.
